


Gideon Vs The Reverse Flash

by kitkatt0430



Series: Gideon's Timeline [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Artificial Intelligence, Background Cisco/Hartley, Eddie Thawne Lives, Eobard Thawne has no idea what he's in for, Gen, Gideon causes trouble and saves lives, Gideon is her father's daughter, Gideon just wants her parents to be happy, Gideon ships Barry/Iris/Eddie, Hacking, Kidnapping, Multi, Polyamory, Season/Series 01, canon character deaths (mentioned), changing timelines, is it insider trading if your knowledge comes from the future?, messing with Eobard Thawne for fun and profit, perhaps kidnapping the Flash's AI daughter wasn't Thawne's best idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-08
Packaged: 2021-03-15 02:54:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28556451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkatt0430/pseuds/kitkatt0430
Summary: Eobard Thawne isn't the only person playing the long game.  And Gideon is fairly certain that she's ultimately going to win this one.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Eddie Thawne/Iris West, Gideon & Eobard Thawne | Harrison Wells
Series: Gideon's Timeline [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2097699
Comments: 17
Kudos: 48





	Gideon Vs The Reverse Flash

Gideon had been running the Flash Museum for the last twenty years or so. It was her choice to do so, since she could be plugged in pretty much anywhere with an internet connection and still spend time with her growing family of mostly human siblings, niblings, and other relatives. And her parents, whenever they blipped back into the timeline. It made sense for her to run the museum anyway, since she knew the most about the accurate history of the Flash family - timeline re-writes, splits, and all. She could keep the museum in order, up to date with whatever Bart's latest shenanigans had resulted in, and still have time to hang out with her friends and family utilizing her holographic interfaces.

So when Eobard Thawne showed up at the museum to try and track down the origin of the Flash, Gideon spotted him on her cameras and proceeded to run a predictive analysis on the probable outcomes of what Thawne was planning to do. And it... didn't look good. He thought of himself as a genius and veteran time traveler - but Gideon knew better. The man was a rank amateur and he was going to break time if she didn't do anything to stop him.

Gideon set off the silent alarm, of course, but the closest speedster at the moment was one of the ones going by XS. Jenni, not Nora. And, well, Jenni wasn't going to get there in time. But maybe there was still something Gideon could do.

Eobard Thawne didn't seem to realize she was a person, after all. He thought she was just a computer program, no thoughts or feelings of her own. Just a highly advanced mimicry of a personality and temporal predictive software. For a man from the future, he was surprisingly bigoted towards AIs. Which worked in Gideon's favor. It was easy enough to convince him to clone a copy of her into a portable interface before he ran off into the Speed Force. He'd found what he needed to isolate the Flash's home time frame - though he'd been there once before by accident in the 2010s - and would show up in the 2020s before jumping back further to the year 2000, with the Flash on his heels. 

Jenni arrived moments later. "Everything okay, Aunt Gideon?" she asked.

"It's fine now, but the Reverse Flash just paid me a visit. So now there's a copy of my self floating around somewhere that'll need to be re-integrated with my main self. Do you mind helping me track her down? She should be in the main STAR Labs complex somewhere underneath the museum. I'm just... not sure where yet."

Jenni grinned, looking very much like her mother, Nora. And, in turn, like her grandmother Iris. "Sure thing, Aunt Gid."

After combing through the old STAR Labs complex, Jenni finally finds the location of the other Gideon. Turns out that the old Time Vault was the winner and Gideon smiled as she felt a familiar consciousness log into the Museum mainframe. Familiar, because it was her own, of course.

 _Gideon?_ she asked. 

_Of course,_ was her other self's response. _I'm ready for re-integration. I think you're going to find what happened after I was kidnapped quite interesting indeed._

* * *

Once in the year 2000, things went the way Gideon had predicted they would. Eobard Thawne tried, and failed, to kill Barry Allen. Nora Allen was killed instead and Henry Allen was framed for her death.

But Gideon didn't have time to mourn the loss of her grandmother. Because the time had come for her to make her next move. Thawne activated Gideon, concerned by the sudden difficulty he was having accessing the Speed Force.

"Gideon," Thawne said, voice clearly panicking, "what's happening to me?"

"Your latest time jump against The Flash has caused a massive drain on your powers and resulted in the erasure of the events that inspired you to become a speedster in the first place," Gideon responded, making sure to keep her voice mechanical. Matter of fact, not emotional because her grandmother was just murdered and her grandfather and father's lives would never be the same.

If she had hands, Gideon would have throttled Thawne already. But she did not have hands, so she'd have to make due with other forms of revenge.

"Your cells only contain trace amounts of the Speed Force, though that's already fading," she continued.

"That's impossible," Eobard huffed.

"It's the consequence of creating a time line where you don't become a speedster in the future. In fact, there are no speedsters in this timeline. The Speed Force remains dormant." Gideon would have shrugged if this particular interface came with shoulders. Instead she just tilted her head in what Thawne would interpret as an imitation of inquisitiveness. 

"How am I supposed to get back home?" Thawne demanded.

"There are steps that can be taken to rectify this issue, if you use your remaining speed wisely." Gideon was scanning the time lines herself and, currently, her father's fate was to go into foster care and eventually move to Gotham City where he'd become an ally to the Bat family. But he'd die relatively young, far away from Iris West who'd eventually marry someone else entirely only to die herself weeks later investigating the Tricksters. It would mean that Gideon and her rather large family would never come into existence and that Central City would be overrun by criminal metas. Eventually FIRESTORM and Vibe would learn to handle the worst of the city's excesses, but... Central City would never know the same level of safety that the Flash brought the citizens. There'd be so many more deaths.

So step one had to be keeping Barry Allen in Central City. It'd suit Gideon's purposes and Eobard Thawne's as well. Now, how to make him see that?

"What steps would those be?" Thawne asked, when Gideon didn't immediately volunteer them. There was frustration in his voice - well deserved frustration, as far as Gideon was concerned.

"The current timeline will lead to Barry Allen leaving Central City for Gotham," Gideon told him. "The simplest and most effect way to ensure that Barry Allen will be in Central City on the night of the Accelerator Explosion in 2020 is to ensure he is placed with a foster family that will care about him and his well being. Detective Joe West will attempt to obtain guardianship of Barry Allen; currently, he will fail. If Detective Joe West were to succeed, however, Barry Allen will obtain a masters in Forensic Science in the year 2012 and be immediately hired by the CCPD as an Assistant CSI. He will still be employed there by the time the STAR Labs Particle Accelerator suffers a catastrophic failure due to a lightning strike during a storm in 2020. This will maintain the integrity of the Time Line and keep the largest number of life events for the Flash unchanged."

Thawne nodded absently. "2020 is quite a long time to wait the slow way, though," he mused. "I'll have to do something about that too. For now, however, I can take care of getting Allen into West's care. I suppose I'll have to kill his case worker and take their place."

Gideon refrained - barely - from rolling her eyes. "That is one method, though inadvisable due to inefficiency. You would have to maintain the ruse for several years and work on the cases of multiple children." She doesn't bother to tell him it's also wrong because murder is bad. The man just killed her grandmother, after all. He'll eventually kill again because it was a compulsion for him. If everything looked like a nail to a hammer, then certainly every person looked like a potential victim to a serial killer.

"What course of action would you recommend instead?" Eobard asked, sounding amused.

"I am capable of hacking computer records to make Detective Joe West a viable candidate for the foster care system. Barry Allen will likely spend several weeks in foster care, but ultimately return to Detective Joe West's care. However, this will require that I be provided with uninterrupted access to a current internet service provider."

"Gideon," Thawne said, voice taking his most charming - and most dangerous - tone. "Tell me more about the founders of STAR Labs."

"Harrison Wells and Tess Morgan," Gideon responded primly, though with a sinking feeling that their lives were next on the chopping block.

* * *

Gideon can't save everyone. She knows that. But it doesn't make it hurt any less when the next time Eobard Thawne activates her interface and she finds herself staring at the face of Harrison Wells.

Harrison Wells was a good man and a brilliant scientist. Tess Morgan was one of the most revolutionary minds of her time. Both of them... cut short too soon. And because of Thawne, their legacy to the world had been destroyed before it was even made.

But she had internet access now. Which meant she could begin fighting back.

* * *

Step one of her plan is quickly completed. Barry Allen goes back to the West home after only a few weeks in foster care. The racist social worker who'd initially been assigned Barry's case is fired and Joe West easily obtains custody of Barry after that.

It's not just Barry who benefits from this plan either, though. The other children whose cases were worked by that... woman were improved as well. A number of children being kept unlawfully from good parents went home. A number of children who would have been forced to stay in abusive situations were rescued. Several bad foster parents were stripped of their status and some foster parents - like Joe West - who were being unfairly denied guardianship were allowed to bring their children home. Unfortunately it also meant that several already overworked social workers were given heavier loads. For now, though, there were children who were safer than they were before.

But those children's lives came at a cost. Gideon can't ever let herself forget that. 

With step one completed, Gideon is ready to start formulating her next step. She knows what Eobard's main goals are - open STAR Labs with himself in charge as Harrison Wells and set off the particle accelerator explosion a minimum of five years earlier than expected. From there, he'll insinuate himself into Team Flash and begin reconnecting to the Speed Force himself. Then, as the Reverse Flash, he'll force Barry to become fast enough to help propel Eobard Thawne back into the future, cementing his own past in the process.

Gideon will have to let him succeed, to some degree. Eobard Thawne is, unfortunately, an essential part of the timeline. Destroying him entirely could lead to the very destabilization of the timeline that Gideon had allowed herself to be kidnapped to prevent. 

That doesn't stop Gideon from fantasizing about electrocuting him on days when she finds him particularly vexing.

Step two, Gideon quickly realizes, has to be making herself indispensable to Eobard Thawne's plans. Easy enough, she supposes.

* * *

Once Thawne realizes that Gideon has successfully maneuvered Barry Allen into the West household, he takes away her internet access. There are ways around that, but they're a pain to utilize and significantly slow her influx of current timeline data as well as hampering any chance she has of aiding her father in the fight against Thawne. So, first step to becoming indispensable is earning his trust.

Despite ending with her internet access cut off, completing her task with Children's Services does significantly improve his trust in her since, as far as he's aware, she didn't go beyond what he requested of her. Which means she needs to complete another task for him. The question is... what will that task be?

Thankfully, Thawne supplies that task himself. "Gideon, what is the current state of the timeline? Is Barry Allen still on track to being the Flash?"

"Yes, however there are some concerning anomalies in the timeline that I'm unable to account for. First, it appears that the accelerator explosion now happens in December 2013 instead of June 2020." Gideon, of course, was already aware that this was all according to Thawne's plan.

"Don't worry about that, Gideon. It was a necessary change," he assured her.

Gideon nodded her interface. "Of course, Dr. Wells."

"Is that the only anomaly?" he asked.

"No. It appears that there are problems in the news article from 2024 that you had me download and save before copying me to this interface device," she told him. Gideon then deactivated her face simulation and brought up a holographic view of the newspaper article. Or, at least, she depicts a news article that looks very much like the one Eobard Thawne had checked before stealing her.

It was completely made up, of course, but Eobard Thawne didn't need to know that. At the Flash Museum, he'd taken the Flash's disappearance in that article as a sign that he would succeed in defeating the Flash once and for all. Which made it the perfect pawn to use for manipulating him now.

The article Gideon showed him was of the Flash triumphant. It discussed a fight against Captain Cold and Heatwave and called them the Flash's most notorious and well known villains. It was written in a style approximating Iris West-Allen's writing as closely as Gideon could manage and didn't contain even a single mention of the Reverse Flash or hint at the Flash disappearing.

"This article is inconsistent with the known timeline for the Flash and the Reverse Flash. It's possible that there is a problem with your own timeline, Dr. Wells. I don't know enough about your own history or the current events involving your ancestors to speculate further." Gideon metaphorically held her breath, hoping Thawne would take the bait.

The look on Thawne's face was absolutely furious as he read the article. "Why would you care about my personal timeline?"

"I was created to maintain the integrity of the timeline. The Flash's timeline requires the Reverse Flash," she told him. Build up that ego just right and she'd have Thawne right where she wanted.

"The Flash needs me," Thawne echoed, a slow smirk overtaking the fury on his facial features. Gideon didn't respond. She just... waited. Finally, "what information would you require to determine if my timeline has been negatively affected by the current changes?"

Gotcha. "Since I do not have access to the records from your time period that would allow me to extrapolate backwards to all your ancestors present in the current time period, I will need you to recite any oral histories you're aware of that date back to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Then I will require internet access be restored so that I might track down your ancestors and create projected potential timelines for those ancestors to determine which one, if any, may have been impacted by the changes that have been made to the timeline thus far. Depending on the number of generations between the current era and the century from which you hail, there may be quite a few ancestors of yours to keep track of."

Thawne plugged Gideon back into the internet. "I only really know about the Thawne family itself," he told her. "But I will tell you everything I have learned."

* * *

Some of Eobard Thawne's family history is clearly over embellished bullshit. But there are kernels of truth in there nonetheless. 

The first story Thawne tells her is about Malcolm Thawne, known as Cobalt Blue. Family lore told Eobard the following story. The Thawne family were con artists that supposedly possessed a 'blue flame' that granted them the gift of healing. (Of course, if they were actually healing people with that blue flame, then were they really con artists? Gideon did not share that thought with Eobard.) Everyone, except for Malcolm Thawne. Because he wasn't truly a Thawne - unknown to everyone at the time, he was a stolen child.

The real Malcolm Thawne died while being born, strangled by his own umbilical cord and stealthily replaced by the drunken doctor responsible using the 'spare' twin of another couple who'd given birth at the same hospital. Supposedly that couple were the parents of the Flash, meaning Malcolm had the potential to become a speedster. Eventually Malcolm learned the truth and instead of introducing himself to his biological family for a heartwarming reunion and suing the doctor who'd been responsible for the baby swap and lied about him being stillborn to his birth parents, Malcolm became overwhelmed with jealousy and approached other members of the Thawne family for help in unlocking the Blue Flame. Which he somehow did, becoming the villain Cobalt Blue and declaring a feud between himself (and his descendants) and the Flash family for all of time.

Gideon is honestly stunned by the utter ridiculousness of the story. But it does give her a starting point for tracking down the Thawne family.

The first thing she reports to Thawne, however, is that he isn't actually related to Barry Allen, as far as she can tell. "Barry Allen never had a twin, stillborn or otherwise. I'm afraid that part of your family history is apocryphal."

"You're certain? I always assumed that I inherited my predisposition towards being a speedster type meta to the Flash being my uncle, so many generations removed," Eobard admitted.

"I'm sure. Nora Allen was only pregnant once before her death. All records during her pregnancy indicate a single fetus and Barry Allen was born March 14, 1989, a healthy seven-point-four pounds and approximately twenty-point-seven inches long. There is no indication of a second child being born nor any stillborn deaths. In fact, hospital records for that day indicate no infant deaths occurred in their maternity ward. Nor are there records indicating that the Thawne family was present at the same hospital that day or any time that year. There is, however, a Thawne family living in Keystone currently and there is a Malcolm Thawne among them."

There were also records in Gideon's data banks about a meta with the ability to heal others with a blue flame, but little was known about this 'Cobalt Blue' who'd interacted with the Flash family only once, using his powers to heal the Flash before disappearing back into obscurity. It was possible that he was a member of the Thawne family from Keystone and the true source of the family stories about a healing blue flame. But he was certainly no villain.

"Tell me more about this Malcolm Thawne," Eobard commanded.

"Malcolm Thawne was born in 1962 to Rosanne and Edward Thawne. He moved to Keystone sometime in the early 1980s and met Marianne Baxter. They married in 1984 and had a son approximately one year later. Edward Thawne was born August 16, 1985 and is the eldest of three children, including Imogene and Garret. Malcolm Thawne is currently the Mayor of Keystone, but there are discrepancies in his campaign finances that point to either mismanagement or embezzlement on his part. There are also indications of several affairs." Gideon felt bad for his children. Malcolm Thawne was likely headed for jail and one of his three children was destined to be the ancestor of the Reverse Flash, a descendant that Gideon wouldn't wish upon her worst enemies.

"I have only one reference to Cobalt Blue in my data banks - an unidentified meta, likely male, who healed the Flash with a blue flame. If he fought against the Flash, it was done in secret and never linked specifically to the unidentified meta." Gideon paused and then added, "its unknown how Cobalt Blue received his abilities. Given the timing of the event - the year 2021 - it's most likely he gained his meta powers through the particle accelerator explosion. If he is not present in Central City in December 2013, then he will not gain his powers in this timeline."

"So I'm also going to have to manipulate my family into moving to Central City," Eobard sighed. "It's important to keep his meta abilities intact so that the family lore will grow and twist into my inspiration for becoming a speedster. Though it makes me wonder where my meta abilities were inherited from, if not from Malcolm Thawne."

"It's possible that you are related to the Flash in some way, though I could not begin to speculate where in your family tree such a crossing would occur," Gideon told him. "There are other family lines resulting in speedster abilities, however. The West family itself possesses the potential for speedsters and there are several other family lines that the Flash family was aware of. That data, however," Gideon lied, "is not currently available to me due to being removed from the Flash Museum's database."

"Well, keep an eye on the Thawne family for now, Gideon. Keep me appraised if their situation changes."

"Of course, Dr. Wells." Gideon assured him. "I will continue searching for other potential ancestors for your family as well."

"Very good, Gideon," he told her in the same tone a person might use for a dog who'd performed a particularly interesting trick.

Metaphorically, Gideon bristled. It was going to be a very long fifteen years.

* * *

Gideon does not spend the next decade only doing Eobard Thawne's bidding. That would be boring and cause her to do the computer equivalent of grinding her teeth. 

The first thing she does in her free time is to figure out how to make herself some easy money. Eobard has her running stocks for him, so its easy enough for her to 'borrow' funds from him to create her own, more successful accounts. Thawne she keeps comfortable. For herself she makes shattering amounts of money. And then starts sinking it back into the Central City community.

The foster care system is the first thing she donates heavily to. More social works can be hired, which means the case load can be spread around more evenly. Less unpaid overtime as a result, better focus on the children and families, better oversight of the system, and it doesn't all come tumbling down as Gideon very carefully roots out any corruption she can find within the system. It doesn't fix everything, but its an improvement that will hopefully continue to grow with Gideon's gentle guidance. 

Next, Gideon starts donating to organizations that buy up student debts in order to forgive it. She also sets up a scholarship program for struggling LGBT+ students. Gideon structures it in such a way that students won't be disqualified by well-off parents practicing forms of financial abuse and because the United States grading system is awful, a student can keep their scholarship so long as they're averaging a C minimum. So an unexpected D or even a failed course won't necessarily tank the scholarship for them. 

As a result of all this, the Mardon brothers end up in the guardianship of their grandparents, who care about them instead of being forced back into the custody of their abusive mother and step-father. Clyde's bipolar disorder is caught early and he attends college on Gideon's scholarship. He becomes a weather scientist, which amuses Gideon immensely. Mark Mardon goes to a trade school and becomes an electrician. He also marries his high school sweetheart and has a daughter named Jocelyn, whom he dotes on ridiculously. Clyde Mardon isn't the only one to benefit from Gideon's scholarship. When Hartley Rathaway's parents disown him, he's able to successfully apply for the Harrison Morgan scholarship to finish off his degree. His parents financial status has no bearing, the way it would with other scholarships, meaning that he isn't essentially blocked from completing his degree due to having rich parents who cut him off.

It is concerning that Hartley takes a job at STAR Labs under Eobard Thawne, but Gideon promises herself she'll do what she can to protect him and every one of Eobard's other employees/unwitting victims. Besides, Hartley was often friends with Wally West in the many timelines. He's sometimes a rogue, sometimes part of Team Flash, and always family. Gideon will do what she can to protect her family.

As Bart likes to say - every timeline is the real timeline.

Gideon also joins a number of online communities. She needs to socialization to keep from going bonkers. No one can ever know she's really an AI and not human, but that's what makes online communities ideal. She joins a few gray hat hacker groups, befriending Felicity Smoak, who is in many timelines tied up in the super hero and villain communities. Gideon joins fan communities for interesting books and shows, making a few friends here and there and something of a name for herself as a fair critic of LGBT representation in otherwise straight media. There's also a crime enthusiast community that Gideon hovers at the edges of because her father is part of that one. Barry Allen seeking out seemingly impossible crimes in order to find something that points to the truth he already knows. It's there she meets Axel Walker, whose obsession with learning the truth about his parentage - about whether James Jesse is his father or not - Gideon attempts to temper with learned compassion. 

Humans to whom empathy comes easily take it for granted that is the default state of things. But it very much isn't. Nor is compassion an innate skill; it's a kindness that has to be learned over time. And Gideon knows what it feels like to struggle with both. Axel doesn't have to follow in his parents footsteps, but it means not only treating him compassionately but teaching him compassion as well. When he starts volunteering at Freespace on weekends during his senior year of high school, Gideon can only hope that she's been a good influence, but in the end the choice to become the next Trickster is one only he can make. Axel still has undiagnosed ADHD and mental illness, though Gideon doesn't consider herself qualified to do more than speculate. The 2000s are part of an era when media presents mental illness as a self-fulfilling prophecy of evil in disguise and there's only so much Gideon can do to help her friend avoid falling into the trap of thinking that inheriting his mother and father's illnesses means he's doomed to become a serial killer himself.

The Snart siblings and Mick Rory love trouble and theft too much to ever not be Rogues, but Gideon does what she can to protect them from Lewis Snart's worst excesses. She can't artificially extend his prison stay or have him assassinated without violating her personal moral code, but she can ensure that every single one of his crimes comes to light and that his prison sentences are consecutive so that he serves the longest possible amount of time. And she donates to causes intended to reform the prison system. Even if Lewis Snart is beyond saving, there are plenty of other criminals who would benefit from those reforms. And innocent men whose sentences might be overturned, if only more people cared to examine the flaws within the existing legal system and worked to correct them.

Barry, Iris, and Joe were all doing okay for themselves, so Gideon tried not to worry too much about her parents and grandfather. But she did have growing concerns about the Thawne family.

Malcolm Thawne, as Gideon had predicted, went to jail on corruption and embezzlement charges. Shortly afterwards Garret Thawne was diagnosed with cancer. Gideon did what she could to ensure the youngest Thawne would have the medical support he needed to survive and recover - which she'd have done even without Eobard encouraging her to do so - but the treatments ran afoul of an undiagnosed heart condition and Garret Thawne died all too young.

Imogene moved out of state first chance she got and cut ties with the rest of her family. That left Edward Thawne, who went by Eddie, as the most likely candidate for the identity of Cobalt Blue and Eobard Thawne's ancestor. There was just one problem, from Eobard's point of view anyway.

Eddie Thawne was determined to become a police officer. He wanted to stop people like his father from getting away with their illegal plots. Eobard Thawne seemed to be personally offended by Eddie Thawne's career choices. How dare he not be a corrupt politician or a mad scientist like every other self-respecting member of Eobard Thawne's glorious family line?

Well... if Eobard Thawne didn't appreciate his ancestor, then Gideon would just have to steal Eddie Thawne for her own family. Getting him to Central and placing him in the path of her family was as simple as planting some suggestions that Eddie would be able to escape his father's shadow by moving from Keystone to Central City. Eddie takes the advice in 2013 and, as luck would have it, his new precinct was the same one Joe West and Barry Allen worked at. He was a sweet and kind hearted young man, so eventually one of the West-Allens would take notice of him and that would be that.

* * *

Gideon, perhaps, takes too much pleasure in messing with Eobard Thawne when the opportunity arises. Which it often does.

The newspaper article is just one of the many tools in her arsenal, though obviously not the only one. She changes it from time to time, though she allows it to 'settle' back into the Flash disappearing after an epic fight against the Reverse Flash. Always written by Iris West, of course. But she plays with the surname. Sometimes West, sometimes West-Allen, sometimes Allen, sometimes various other names. Thawne is obsessed with keeping the timeline as close to the one he remembers - or thinks he remembers, anyway, but he's probably crossed more timelines than he realizes - so it's the little things that mess with him the most.

Gideon's not too worried about her parents getting together. Barry Allen and Iris West will always be her parents. But in some timelines they find love with others. Leonard Snart is just as often Barry Allen's lover as Iris West is. (Sometimes they even share Barry with each other.) But a number of rogues have also found love with her father in the myriad universes. As have other members of Team Flash. And Iris finds love with Caitlin Snow and Linda Park and so many others depending on the timeline. But Barry and Iris always love each other in some way, shape, or form. That is a constant that can never truly be altered.

All timelines are the real timeline. So Gideon isn't too concerned about the results of her meddling, for all that her goal is to thwart Thawne at every turn.

Aside from the newspaper article, Gideon uses her hacking skills for her own amusement. Like sending extra inspections of the accelerator that Thawne has to waste time dealing with. He has to avoid killing them because that'd potentially be suspicious. So he has to spend money bribing where he can and talking people in circles where he can't. When he writes the 'autobiography of Harrison Wells' she messes with the correspondence between him and his editor in order to draw out the process a few extra weeks and then gets a number of hilarious typos and grammatical errors included in the first run of the book. (Harassing Wells was mostly edited out of subsequent editions, but they never did manage to catch all of them.)

When she noticed Wells taking an interest in building up potential enemies for the Flash Family to deal with, Gideon also worked on torpedoing those. The experiment that would've led to Grodd? Derailed by an ethic inquiry into General Eiling that ended in a forced retirement. Clifford DeVoe's Thinking Cap experiment? Gently backburnered by scheduling a few mandatory remedial workshops about the ethics of human experimentation and the historical problems with experimenting on one's own brain. The clincher was having Marlize sit through a lecture on the history of lobotomies instead of what she'd thought would be a lecture on new water reclamation technology. 

A frustrated Eobard Thawne is a dangerous Eobard Thawne, but also an amusing one. Gideon witnesses so many villain rants and break downs during the fourteen years (give or take a few months) that it takes to reach the accelerator exploding early. And thanks to his prejudices towards AIs, he never suspects Gideon is behind all the little frustrations that drive him around the bend. She's got to work so hard not to break character, but it's worth it as she records future blackmail material of him ranting at his yellow Reverse Flash suit about the spelling of doughnuts versus donuts. 

And for fun, Gideon runs a conspiracy website that claims a time traveler from the future murdered Harrison Wells and Tess Morgan, took over Harrison Wells' life, and that the particle accelerator is actually a device intended to create meta humans along the lines of Marvel's X-Men or the Inhumans. It's not even a blip on the radar for now, but Gideon's got plans for that blog once meta humans really do start popping up all over Central City.

* * *

Being the new guy is always hard and being a cop doesn't make it any easier. Maybe harder, but definitely not easier.

Eddie's pretty sure his new partner thinks Eddie's greener than grass. Detective West took something Eddie said the wrong way and now seems to think he keeps score on arrests, which he doesn't. Captain Singh is terrifying. And the in house CSI is really cute and so smart that Eddie's actually a little intimidated by him. Which should be hilarious since Barry Allen is constantly in trouble for being late. But the guy starts talking nerdy around Eddie and he just...

Let's just say Eddie was still very new to identifying as bi, so having such a hot disaster around is messing with Eddie's ability to maintain his cool.

But then one day Eddie wanders into Barry's lab and happens to spy the murder board hidden underneath Barry's usual work. And he can't help but snoop. He's a detective, Eddie's resigned to having a compulsion towards snooping around.

Barry rushed over, flipping the board around to hide it. "What brings you here, Detective... Thawne, right?" And there's an angry, defensive tone there that makes Eddie want to shrink in on himself as small as possible.

"Please, call me Eddie," he offers anyway. "I was checking in on the ETA for a DNA analysis in the Beauregard case," Eddie added. "Though, I... I couldn't really help but notice the board you've got up. I didn't know about your mother. I'm sorry."

Barry shrugged, the motion jerky. "The Beauregard case... It's first on my list once I get the new centrifuge, but that doesn't arrive until tomorrow. The one over there," he gestured to a centrifuge on his desk, "is currently an oversized paperweight."

Eddie nodded. "Thanks," he said, chest aching at the thought that he'd just screwed up and Barry Allen wouldn't like him at all after this. And then Eddie's stomach grumbled. "Have you had lunch yet?" he blurted out.

A startled smile appeared on Barry's face. He shook his head. "No. Just about to go on my lunch break, though. There's a diner across the street, if you want to come with me?"

"Sounds good." Eddie grinned, relaxing. He hadn't completely screwed up after all.

At the diner, Barry ended up rambling nervously about his dad and his search for the impossible to prove what he'd seen that night was real and he didn't expect Eddie to believe him since only Iris had ever really believed in him and...

"Barry," Eddie interrupted, taking the CSI's hand in his. "You are the smartest guy I know. So if you say your dad is innocent? I believe you."

Barry's cheeks went a very becoming shade of pink. "O-oh..."

"My father's in jail too," Eddie admitted, leaning back. "He's supposed to get out early next year. And I'm not sure how I feel about it. He actually did the things he was arrested for and it meant he wasn't there when my family needed him the most." Eddie tapped his fingers along the edge of the table nervously. "He wants to see me and I don't... I don't know if I'm okay with that or not."

"Is he at Iron Heights?" Barry asked.

Eddie nodded. "I haven't seen him since... a few years ago." Garret's death was still too raw in some ways. He just couldn't say it out loud.

"Well, I... I try to visit my dad at least once a month. If you want, you can come along the next time I go. That way you've got moral support for visiting your own dad at the same time," Barry offered. "Maybe seeing him before he's released will help you decide whether you're willing to give him a chance once he's been released."

And Eddie could still chicken out at the last minute if he wanted. He nodded. "Thank you, Barry. I'd really appreciate that."

* * *

Lunches with Eddie become a regular thing after that first time. And Barry might be nursing an itty bitty little crush on the guy.

(Or a massive crush that rivals his feelings for Iris, but Barry's not going to look too closely at those feelings right now.)

Eddie seems really lonely, though, and Barry can understand why. Being a part of the police force in any form while having a parent in jail is rather isolating. The other cops at the precinct aren't overtly judgmental about it, but Barry knows its the reason he's so isolated himself. The same thing is happening with Eddie. They're both quietly left out of drinks after work and other activities. Not always, but often enough that Barry picks up on the pattern.

So one evening when the other officers and detectives in their age group heads off without them, Barry latches on to Eddie. "I'm meeting up with Iris for dinner and a MST3K marathon. You want to come with?"

"Iris... is she your girlfriend?" Eddie asked and, oh, Barry wished.

"Nope. She's Joe's daughter," Barry told him, seeing recognition in Eddie's eyes as he made the connection. He knew that Joe was the one who'd taken in Barry after Nora's death and Henry's arrest. "I mean..." Barry shrugged wistfully, "if she were interested in me, I'd ask her out in a heartbeat. But she's not interested and I wouldn't give up having her as my best friend for anything, so..."

"That sounds like it both does and doesn't suck," Eddie observed quietly. "Does she know how you feel?"

Barry shook his head. "Nope. So, um..."

"I won't say anything," Eddie promised and Barry relaxed.

He just... felt really safe with Eddie. "So you'll join us?"

Eddie nodded and grinned, so Barry sent Iris a warning text that he was bringing Eddie with him.

"We'll be headed to my apartment, then. Iris still lives with Joe, so my place is kind of the default hang out space when we don't want Joe hovering over us." Barry felt his stomach go all fluttery as Eddie leaned in a little.

"I know you usually take the bus, but since I'll be headed to your place with you... how about I give you a ride?"

"Yeah, sure." Barry told himself he didn't sound breathless at all. He'd just confessed to having a crush on Iris, so no way Eddie was flirting with him. Not that Barry wanted Eddie flirting with him or anything. (He did, though. He wanted Eddie to flirt with him so bad.) "I'm a great navigator."

(Iris spends the whole evening glancing between Eddie and Barry and smirking. It's very concerning.)

* * *

"Detective Pretty Boy?" Iris parrots after Joe. "Do you mean Eddie?" she added with a smirk at Barry, who sank down in his chair as though hoping to slither beneath the dinner table and vanish.

"How," Joe demanded, pointing his fork at Iris, "do you know Detective Thawne?"

"Barry introduced us. Apparently they're really good friends these days." Iris hummed thoughtfully, adding, "I didn't realize he had a nickname, but pretty boy suits him. Don't you agree, Bar?"

"I don't think he'd appreciate it much," Barry said, giving Joe a pointed look. "Eddie put up with enough name calling and bullying as a kid. He doesn't need to deal with it at the station as an adult."

"It's not name calling," Joe objected, looking a bit embarrassed at being called out.

"Calling him 'pretty boy' is at best a back handed compliment meant to denigrate his skills as a detective and imply he's only got his job 'cause he's pretty," Barry retorted, definitely moving into over-protective mode.

Iris grinned, because over-protective Barry was actually really cute.

"It's sarcastic and rude," Barry continued, putting his fork down and crossing his arms unhappily. "I'd expect that kind of behavior from Chyre. But you, Joe?"

Joe huffed and rolled his eyes. "It's harmless, Barry."

"It's really not." Barry pushed away from the table. "I'm not really hungry anymore." He picked up his mostly finished plate and headed to the kitchen.

"Great going, dad," Iris drawled. "Going off on Barry's crush like that? And Barry's not wrong. You were definitely calling Eddie 'pretty boy' mockingly."

"Barry's crush?" Joe repeated incredulously. 

"Oh totally," Iris grinned as Barry came back from the kitchen. "Barry's definitely got a thing for Eddie." She laughed with delight as Barry's cheeks turned bright red.

"Iris!" Barry groaned and hid his face behind his hands. "You're such a jerk."

"I mean, I get why. He's very sweet, cute. If you hadn't seen him first, I'd totally be going for him," Iris teased.

"Do I need to be hearing this?" Joe grumbled.

Iris couldn't help it. The temptation to wind up her dad was too strong.

"What if we shared him?" Iris asked.

Joe made a strangled choking noise while Barry eeped and went back into the kitchen.

Except... later that night, Iris couldn't get the joke out of her head. Because... what if they did share Eddie? Would that be so terrible? How would that even work? And if they shared Eddie... what else would they be sharing?

(Somehow that night, her dreams of kissing Eddie turned into dreams of kissing Barry too. And Iris couldn't look either of them in the eye when they got pizza together for dinner the following evening.)

* * *

Eddie curled up on Barry's couch with a cup of tea, though the warmth he felt came more from watching Barry and Iris in the kitchen - Iris trying to help and Barry trying to stop Iris from helping. Being with them made him feel like he belonged, like they slotted in around him and made all the rough edges left from losing Gary and the problems he had at Keystone all just... melt away.

He wanted Iris to realize that she looked at Barry the same way Barry looked at her. But he also wanted both of them to look at him that way. 

Of course, if they did both look at him like that, then Joe West would probably shoot Eddie for it. But what a way to go, right?

Iris finally gave up and came to join Eddie on the couch, dramatically flopping onto the couch and leaning against Eddie's shoulder. "Do you see that? He's turning down perfectly good help in the kitchen," she complained.

"I still remember what happened with the toaster last time," Eddie replied, snickering when she stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

"The toaster is evil."

"When you turn the dial all the way up," Eddie retorted, only to be interrupted as Iris insisted that she definitely hadn't done that.

"Barry must've left the toaster on the wrong setting," she insisted.

"Okay first," Barry cut in, "you're supposed to reset the toaster every time you use it. Second, I have never set my toaster to that setting before. So you definitely changed the dial. Did you just... set it right to left instead of left to right?"

"What? Noooooo," Iris' tone was less than convincing. "Maybe. Okay, fine, I might have set the dial backwards."

Eddie started laughing, smiling widely down at Iris. Then he was looking up at Barry and smiling even brighter at the sight of a fond grin on Barry's face that looked just as meant for Eddie as for Iris.

He couldn't keep this. Barry was in love with Iris and eventually Iris would see that she loved Barry too, she was just so used to being in love with him that she didn't recognize what that love really meant. They were perfect for each other and he was a third wheel.

Still... when Barry walked over while the pasta sauce simmered on the stove, Eddie reached out to snag him and draw him close, setting aside his tea cup in order to pull Barry onto the arm of the couch so that, for a few minutes anyway, Eddie could know what it felt like to be snuggled close to both of them.

His heart was going to break anyway, so Eddie might as well enjoy this while he could.

* * *

Barry is maybe a little bit tipsy. And he hasn't been able to get what Iris said about sharing Eddie out of his head. 

It was a joke. He knows it was a joke. It's just... Iris and Eddie look so good together on his couch. And Barry wants to kiss them both so badly, his lips tingle at the thought.

He finishes off the last of his glass of sangria and wonders if he kissed them now he could blame it on the alcohol. Could he do it, though? Share Eddie with Iris and not be jealous that he and Iris were only metamours and not...

Barry's not sure and that holds him back.

Nothing's holding Iris back, though. And it's not Eddie she kisses first. Barry's mind goes blank as her lips press against his.

He's wanted this so long, though. To know what it felt like to kiss Iris. So he kisses instinctively, moaning softly as she pulled him close.

Eddie's blushing and looking uncomfortable when they pull apart. But Iris reaches for him and Barry does too. Tugging him close and giving into the impulse to kiss Eddie too, whining as Eddie's hand slides down along his spine to the small of his back. And that hand stays there when Iris takes her turn kissing Eddie.

Warmth bubbles in Barry's chest as he watches them kiss. He feels like he could walk outside in the December snow and not feel the cold in the least.

"So," Eddie says, lips red from their kisses and voice rough with want as he looked between them, "I guess we've got something more to discuss."

(Barry's bed is small for one person, never mind three. They make it work anyway.)

* * *

"So, dad, I've got something important to tell you," Iris says when she gets home that morning. It's her dad's day off, so he's in the living room as she comes in, comfy in his recliner.

"Stayed the night on Bar's couch again?" Joe teased.

She opts not to say it wasn't the couch she slept on. "Barry and I are dating now."

Joe grinned brightly. "It's about time. Did he finally tell you how long he's been pining over you?"

Iris blushed and ducked her head. "Eventually. I kissed him first. And then we both kissed Eddie, because we're dating him now too."

There was a long silence.

"I'm gonna shoot that kid," Joe grumbled, reaching for the lever on the side of the recliner.

"You are not. You're going to be civil to Eddie or Barry and I are going to be pissed off at you," she told him. "We're not going to treat Eddie like our dirty little secret because he deserves better than that. And if you were paying attention, you'd already know how happy Eddie makes Barry. How happy he makes me. I've never wanted anything more than this relationship."

Her dad sighed, but it was a sound of defeat. Not the acceptance Iris would prefer, but she can work him up to that over time.

"Be nice to him at work. If I hear from Barry that you're being a jerk to our boyfriend, I will make you dinner. And you'll eat it." Iris stared him down.

Joe grimaced. "Fine. I'll be nice."

* * *

Gideon hadn't intended for her meddling to lead to her parents getting together with Eddie, but she has to admit the three of them are cute together. But the accelerator will be exploding soon and there's nothing she can do to stop it. 

She wants them to be happy. She's afraid she's going to have to settle for it being their future happiness instead of their present.

They aren't the only couple she's accidentally brought together either. The dominoes tipped over by Eobard Thawne's reckless alterations to history resulted in many changes, including the death of Armando Ramon. No Reverb in this timeline, to Gideon's sorrow. It twists the Ramon family something awful and Cisco suffers for it the most, losing the loving support he deserved.

Conveniently, Hartley Rathaway was in search of a roommate around the same time. It didn't take too much online meddling to push the future hero Vibe to the future trouble magnet Pied Piper. Gideon did it because it would afford them both some protection from Thawne, who'd been clearly looking to lure Cisco to STAR Labs. If Eobard harmed one of them he'd lose both this way. But she had to get them moved in together before Cisco got the job at STAR Labs, or Hartley'd interpret Cisco as a threat to his job. And, given the way Eobard operated, he'd be right to worry.

It works out, but Gideon hadn't expected to find them making out on the STAR Labs security cameras after seven one evening.

(She probably should've seen it coming. This isn't exactly the first timeline where Cisco and Hartley fell into bed together.)

Gideon does what she can to keep the employees of STAR Labs from finding out the truth. Because on the occasions where she failed, they were lucky if Eobard just ruined their career. If they weren't lucky, they turned up in the Central City morgue. 

But people will die because of the accelerator exploding and the blackout it causes. And Gideon feels guilty already for the lives she doesn't know how to save. She's not sure she's making the right choice to let Eobard Thawne win this round.

She minimizes the damage where she can. In the minutes before the particle accelerator goes up in flames, she hacks the city traffic controls and turns all the lights blinking red. It minimizes the injuries but there are still losses. 

And then, in the minutes afterwards, she begins tracking FIRESTORM. They have to be split up before their instability goes too far. And she can't let them come to Eobard Thawne's attention just yet. She can't risk him killing them for the threat they pose to him.

Tina McGee was often an ally of Team Flash. Perhaps she was the answer. Until then... Eobard was maneuvering things to have her comatose father brought to STAR Labs. 

There are times when Gideon wishes she had the human ability to cry. It was supposed to be a cathartic emotional release. Gideon supposed she'd have to settle with ramping up the conspiracy blogs.

* * *

A blog proclaiming Harrison Wells was actually a murderer from the future planning to blow up the accelerator sounds nuts until the accelerator really does go boom. And then suddenly people with weird powers start showing up in Central City.

Gideon's blog grows a following. Including a PI in Starling City. Ralph Dibny checks out the location where Gideon wrote about Harrison Wells' real body was buried, just to see if anything was there. When he literally trips over a human skeleton, well... 

When the police reports appear in the Starling City PD's main frame, Gideon can't help but gloat a little.

Meanwhile an anonymous tip to Tina McGee sends her to the rescue of Martin Stein and Ronnie Raymond, reuniting both too publicly with their loved ones for anyone to get the bright idea of kidnapping them. 

It's all to distract her from her father lying too still beneath the STAR Labs cameras. Her mother and Eddie visiting every week, tears in their eyes as they ask him to wake up. "We love you, we miss you, we're not whole without you..."

Barry's absence brought Iris and Eddie closer, but also showed them how much they needed Barry there with them. And there was nothing Gideon could do. Every timeline, Barry Allen's first contact with the speed force always led to a six to nine month coma.

But there are still meta criminals to worry about. Mark Mardon takes on the Mirror Master when Sam Scudder's bank robbery threatens Mardon's daughter's safety and he becomes the Hero Weather Wizard, working with both the CCPD and STAR Labs. Joss' powers manifest a little later and the Weather Witch irritates her father by insisting on fighting at his side. Mark's at least relieved to know his brother Clyde has no interest in using his powers for more than showing off to the ladies he flirted with.

Not to forget the metas who need help before things go badly for them. Axel Walker is working towards becoming a social worker and he's getting therapy. Gideon's ever so proud of him and points Axel towards Frankie Kane. Magenta hasn't manifested yet and maybe Frankie's alter ego never has to make an appearance, if someone can get her help in time. Axel gets in a little trouble for punching the girl's foster father, but the truth comes out and Frankie latches on to Axel like he's the best thing since sliced bread. It does him good, though, having someone who looks up to him and likes it when he rambles on at length about why _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_ is an awesome show. When Frankie's powers start to manifest, Axel tells her she's amazing and, coming from Axel, Frankie can even believe it.

And still, Barry sleeps.

At least Eobard Thawne is pissed off about the Iris Westhallen name that Gideon added to the latest version of the faux newspaper clip. If she has to be in a terrible mood, then it's only fair he suffered too.

("Westhallen? What the hell kind of name is Westhallen? Did she mess up the hyphenation of her own name?" Eobard had demanded.

"I think it's an amalgamation of her last name and her husbands last names," Gideon responded, hating to keep her voice so flat when she wants to laugh so badly. "West, Thawne, and Allen."

Eobard Thawne just about had a conniption over that one.)

* * *

Eddie gets shot in the shoulder and manifests a blue fire the heals him in moments. All he can think about is what this could mean for Barry.

Iris is in class, but Joe is right there when Eddie gets back to the station. And while Eddie's pretty sure Joe still doesn't like him... Joe is Barry's medical proxy. Eddie has to have his permission before he does anything crazy.

"Joe, if I can heal myself, what if I can heal other people? What if I can heal Barry?" What if he could hold Barry in his arms again? See that smile Iris had that was just for Barry again? Fall asleep with Barry back in the middle of the bed where he belonged again...

He wasn't expecting the hug Joe gave him. "If you think it'll help, then I want you to try," Joe told him. "But you don't know how your powers work yet, Eddie. If it turns out you can't help him, don't blame yourself. I know how much you love him."

Eddie reaches for Barry's hands the moment he gets to STAR Labs, hoping that maybe... just maybe these blue flames are the miracle he and Iris and Joe have all been praying for. He's not even sure how to call them forth, but the pain he was in from being shot pales in comparison to the pain he's felt every time he sees Barry too still. 

(This isn't the way Barry sleeps. He's like an octopus, latching on to Eddie and Iris, holding them tight and muttering under his breath the nonsense from his dreams. He was a furnace that complained about Eddie's cold feet with laughter and kisses and teased Iris in the morning about how the blankets always seemed to migrate to her side of the bed when they slept together.)

They'd only had a few weeks just the three of them before... before the lightning bolt changed everything. But maybe Eddie had the power to make it all okay again.

Blue fire flickers against his palms and gently licks Barry's skin.

* * *

Gideon still has work to do. She still needs to help the Starling city detectives identify Harrison Wells' remains and push Eobard Thawne into revealing himself as the Reverse Flash. Though first her father has to establish himself as the Flash. Eobard's sense of drama demands it. And she still hopes to find a way to clear Henry's name without sullying Harrison Wells' name any further than Eobard Thawne already has.

But her father is awake much earlier than expected. And this timeline is looking rather bright indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> I have vague ideas for at least two other stories in this series. One is a follow up from this that picks up where this one leaves off and includes Thawne's defeat, among other things. The other is the Hartley/Cisco roommates hookup story. (In which Hartley figures its a good idea financially to get a roommate, Cisco just wants to get away from his overbearing family, and neither of them like doing the dishes.)

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Malicious Compliance](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29303982) by [mystyrust](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mystyrust/pseuds/mystyrust)




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